1. Automating the Certification of Alternative and PLUS Loans PA BUG November 19, Carole Kushner- Applications Support Analyst, LIS Rick Heckman- Sr Assoc Director, Fin Aid Dickinson College

2. Where we started Datatel Colleague user since 1992
Processed Loans electronically since 2001
Certified Loans on ELM website
Created Loan application in Colleague
Imported Response and Disbursement files from ELM
Colleague matched on SSN and loan type to import Unique ID and other data

3. Institutional Changes
Concerns about our ability to get accurate, timely data from Colleague
RFP process
Review of proposals
Loan processing a big red flag for Financial Aid
Banner selected
Transition as quickly as possible

5. Our Goals
Continue to use Certification Request for processing PLUS and Alternative Loans
Automate the processing to the extent possible using Banner rather than external website
Minimal changes to vanilla Banner
Limit the amount of manual data entry, dual data entry and cutting and pasting
Process Loans from multiple lenders/guarantors
Maintain use of original unique ID

6. Our Plan Import SP2 file from ELM (contains Cert Requests only)
Populate an intermediate table
Produce a report of loans needing to be processed
Develop matching criteria to match imported record with Banner record
Import into Banner table (RPRLAPP) all fields needed to certify loan

7. Challenges Learning to read response files (Ultra Edit)
Loan term dates- correct aid year
Different matching criteria for PLUS and Most Alternative Loans
Alternative Loans with parent as borrower (NJ CLASS)
Switch from ELM to eCourier, but still using ELM
Communicating with lenders - new loan set-up

8. Banner Set up
New fund for each alternative loan program (RFRBASE/RFRMGMT) –be sure to populate alt loan program type
Corresponding Detail Code (TSADETC)
Lender/Guarantor codes (SPAIDEN)
Lender identification (RPRLNDR)
Loan Options (RPRLOPT)
Add codes to RPRELAP (electronic loan creation)
Add codes to appropriate RPRELAX (loan extract)

9. Logging Table Data Par_state Batch_date Par_zip Status Par_phone_no
Par_driver_lic_no
Par_stat_code_lic
Par_birth_date
Par_citz_ind
Par_in_default
El_loan_id
Request_amt
Lender_id
Guar_id
Loan_per_beg_date
Loan_per_end_date
Alt_stud_borrow_ind
Batch_date
Status
Last_name
First_name
Ssn
Loan_type
Alt_loan_prog_type
Par_ssn
Par_last_name
Par_first_name
Par_mi
Par_address
Par_addr_line2
Par_city

10. Matching Criteria PLUS- Student SSN and first letter of last name
Alternative- Alternative Loan Program Type, Borrower SSN and first letter of last name (many alternative lenders do not populate student name/ssn fields)
Additional discussion about NJ Class alternative loans with parent as borrower

11. Day to Day Process (eCourier)
Download Response file(s) from AES
Concatenate
Two copies into Banner directory (rpop_rprlapp and elupdtop)
Import response file into Banner (RPRELRU)
Run script to load records to Log table and attempt to match (Golden)
Run script to get list of unmatched loans loaded today (Golden)
Create loan in Banner
Run script to populate fields in new RPRLAPP record (Golden)
Run RPRELAX
Send file
RPOP_RPRLAPP is our naming convention for the file used for populating our logging table. Process is similar for ELM files, except runs on separate SP2 file, which would not be loaded into Banner as a response file.

12. Populated Fields (RPRLAPP)
Alternative
EL Process type = ‘CR’
EL Record type = ‘C’
Lender ID
Lender PIDM
Guarantor PIDM
Requested amount
EL Loan ID
Banner required fields on Alternative Loan tab
Alt borrower loan debt = 0
Credit in different name ind = N
Alt Loan SB indicator Y or N
PLUS
EL Process type = ‘CR’
EL Record type = ‘C’
Lender ID
Lender PIDM
Guarantor PIDM (based on ID)
Requested amount
EL Loan ID
Parent demographic data
Last name
First name
Middle initial
Address
City state zip
Phone
Driver’s License #
State code
DOB
Citizenship ind
Parent in default
SSN

13. Logging Table
New entry every time matching process is run unless matched, purged or previously processed
Possible statuses:
Unmatched
Processed
Loan ID previously processed (manually processed)
Error-Alt unmatched fund
Error-PLUS multiple records found
Error- Alt multiple records found
Purged

14. Reports/Scripts Loan Apps Loaded Today Loan Apps Processed Today
All Unmatched/Error Loans
Reprocess unmatched records (procedure)
View to show most recent entry for each loan ID
View (specific student name search)

15. Conclusion Reduced data entry error
Resolution of multiple parents processing PLUS loans
Lender neutral (as long as they use eCourier or ELM)
No alterations to standard Banner processes, so very low maintenance

16. Resources/Tools NCHELP-- www.nchelp.org
File layouts
Lender/guarantor/alt loan codes
Banner Bookshelf-- Electronic Loan Manual
SQL editor (Toad, Golden)
Ultra Edit

17. The Future Move to Common Record Changes in Loan Industry
Inclusion of Stafford processing?

18. Questions